Injustice matters and we all have the obligation to solve the problem.

Category: Food Ethics

Sharks?! Those scary man-eating machines that kill hundreds of people worldwide?! And have razor sharp rows of teeth?! Why do I care about them?

Well you should. Because they are dying, and they are not as evil as you’d think.

Daily Dose of Facts:

Approximately 10 people are killed per year world-wide in unprovoked shark attacks.

The average death toll from lightning strikes is 51 deaths per year in the United States.

For every 1 human killed by a shark, approximately 2,000,000 sharks are killed by humans.

You may be thinking about your irrational fear of sharks and how you should actually be worried more about lighting strikes, but stay with me. The real danger isn’t facing us, it’s facing sharks. A staggering death toll ratio of 1 : 2,000,000 is not something we can ignore. And why is this number so high? It’s because of shark finning.

So What is Shark Finning?

Shark finning is the “removal and retention of shark fins and the [discarding] at sea of the carcass.” After the shark fins are removed, the shark is most often alive and then tossed back into the water. A shark’s fins allow them to move, to swim. Without being able to swim, they fall to the bottom of the ocean, where it will be eaten alive by other fish.

The statistic? Over 100 million sharks are killed every year.

Shark finning has increased globally due to the increased demand for shark fins. One popular use for shark fins is for shark fin soup, a delicacy in China. Shark fins themselves have virtually no flavor, so the fin is used to add texture to the dish. Some Chinese citizens believe in extraordinary health benefits to shark fins, using them in medicines and dishes. However, these supposed health benefits do not outweigh the mutilation and killing of millions of sharks per year.

China’s economic growth has also allowed this expensive delicacy to be within reach of the growing middle class. One kilogram of shark fin can be sold for $650 USD, proving the fin is a major delicacy and a billion dollar market. Improved fishing technology has also increased shark finning globally. Unfortunately, shark finning is unmonitored and unrestrained.

So What’s Happening to the Sharks?

Apart from the mutilation and death, shark finning leaves living sharks incapable of moving to either starve to death or be eaten alive by other fish.

Shark finning, unlike some (very, very few) forms of fishing, is highly unsustainable. Due to unmonitored shark finning, the extremely large about of shark fins being harvested is depleting the amount of sharks faster than they can reproduce. Not only is this fishing unsustainable, but it is extremely wasteful. 99% of the shark is wasted when shark finning occurs. The extinction of sharks is a huge deal to marine ecosystems and many shark species are projected to become extinct in the next ten years do to the way sharks are harvested. Taking away predators will cause the ecosystems in which sharks dwell to spiral out of control, causing a ripple effect in the ocean.

SO WAIT … NO MORE SHARK WEEK?

Yeah. No more shark week.

More importantly, no more beautiful creatures that provide an important balance to the many ecosystems of the world’s oceans. Sharks are predators, just like lions and polar bears. Without important, and iconic, predators, ecosystems would be thrown into turmoil.

Apart from the ecological effects, sharks are beautiful creatures that should be looked after. Sharks are one of the few creatures that inhabited the world’s oceans long before the first dinosaur. AKA, sharks have been inhabitants of this planet long before us, and deserve to thrive in there home of more than hundreds of millions of years.

So What Do I Think?

I think that sharks pose little to no risk to humans, statistically. I’m not advising anyone to jump into shark-infested waters, but we have to start thinking as sharks as a beautiful species, and less like a violent man-killing machine.

From a vegetarian/vegan perspective, I think all lives, including land and marine lives, matter. For others, I would hope you agree.

If not, think about the effects of a predator becoming extinct from an ecosystem. Think of the overpopulation of a marine species that will become so overwhelming, it will make other marine life extinct. Think of your favorite fish-dish, or perhaps, your favorite marine animal. Think about how they will be affected, if you still don’t care about the lives of millions of sharks.

So What Should I Do About This?

THINK

Think about what you eat. What kind of environmental and ecological implications does that industry have? Do the foods I consume support an industry in which unsafe practices are common?

Try to limit or eliminate the foods that cause damage by adding in vegan or vegetarian products to your diet that are sustainable and ethical.

STAND UP

Shark finning is not ethical, plain and simple. Shark finning needs to be stopped. Read more and understand the implications of shark finning. Support causes to end shark finning worldwide and save sharks from extinction!

The following links are reading materials and amazing organizations that need your support!

An essay, by Emma Hitchens

As inhabitants of Earth, humans have an ethical duty to care and help sustain the environment to ensure the capability of future use. Earth’s atmosphere and natural resources are in jeopardy due to the actions and lifestyles of the human population. Humans are the only moral agents on this planet and are thus charged with the procurement of environmental welfare and sustainability. To fulfill this moral obligation that humans have to the planet as the only known rational thinkers, it is imperative that a collective human action takes place, which is the adoption of the vegetarian diet. Both natural resource overconsumption and pollution are consequences of meat production and affect the planet in more ways than one. Natural resources such as water, land, and the energy in the food system are directly affected by the side effects of meat production. Pollutants such as manure, methane, nitrous oxide, and carbon dioxide are contaminating oceans, other water sources, and the air. To remedy the devastation to the environment through depletion of natural resources and pollution directly caused by meat production, a collective adoption of vegetarianism is necessary and will remedy the Earth’s current environmental state.

The collective adoption of ethical vegetarianism is not a call to end the agony caused by slaughterhouses or to end the painful practices used by meat producers worldwide. Instead, ethical vegetarianism must be adopted collectively because of the human obligation to protect and preserve the environment. The benefit of giving livestock the same moral value given to other human beings is a positive ethical outcome from this crucial collective action. Ethical vegetarianism is “to live without killing animals or causing them any suffering.”[1] The ethical vegetarian does not consume any dead animals and, in some cases, will not consume milk, eggs, or honey. Throughout history, moral, health, and religious teachers have advocated various forms of ethical vegetarianism. In earlier European cultures, vegetarian diets were seen as the purest of lifestyles.[2] Some religions still hold these beliefs and require followers to refrain from consuming specific kinds of livestock. However, some “vegetarians have been viewed as outside the boundaries of normal or respectable society” in the past.[3] This stigma is still sometimes held today, but vegetarianism is an environmental option that, if it were to become more commonly accepted, would benefit the human population immensely. There are moral questions that attempt to discern the moral obligation that humans have to animals and thus the obligation to adopt a vegetarian lifestyle. Ethical philosophers have long discussed if animals are equal to humans. The arguments for a moral obligation to animals lie with the fact that humans are the only rational beings and, for those who believe in certain spiritualities and religions, have souls.[4] Regardless of the argument for the moral obligation to animals facing slaughter, humans do have a moral obligation to the Earth. This is true because, in order to provide a livable environment for future generations, humans must maintain the Earth’s biodiversity and natural resources. Without the security of these resources, future generations will not be able to be sustained, thus endangering the life of billions of humans yet to be born.

According to a national survey conducted by The Vegetarian Resource Group, only 3.4% of adults responded stating that they were vegetarian.[5] Although 36% adults reported eating one or more vegetarian meals per week, it is necessary that there be a collection human vegetarian diet adoption to make a lasting and meaningful impact on the environment.[6] It is imperative because the current condition of industrial agriculture is unsustainable. Natural resource depletion and pollution are making the land, air, and water less viable for future agriculture each year. The vegetarian diet, if collectively adopted, would decrease the amount of natural resource depletion and pollution that the environment is currently facing.

The term food system involves all the processes used to create food for our planet’s occupants. Agricultural production, capture, processing, preparation, consumption, and waste disposal are all involved in the food system. To first produce agriculture, which includes crops and livestock, land must be utilized. To meet the food demands of the Earth’s increasing population, land must be exploited and industrial agriculture must be utilized. Local farms alone can not support the demands for food that the 7 billion people on this planet require. As of 2015, 38% of the Earth’s surface was used for agricultural processing while the United States used 45% of their land resources.[7] Nearly half of our country’s land is being used for food and about thirteen million hectares of forest are cleared for agriculture each year.[8] Agriculture is the largest contributor to biodiversity loss due to this destruction, diminishing natural resources such as lumber as well as oxygen production. Rainforests, the largest contributors to oxygen production on the planet, have faced “continuous destruction in Central and South America.”[9] The destruction of forests for agriculture results in less carbon dioxide being converted into oxygen. Less oxygen production as well as land and topsoil loss is a major environmental issue that must be fixed so that future generations can grow crops. Without oxygen security and viable land for farming, the Earth will not be able to feed the increasing population. This means a lack of natural resources and populations of hungry individuals across the globe.

Currently, there are approximately 56 billion land animals produced on 38% of Earth’s surface each year, which indicates overexploitation of agricultural lands.[10] The land that is currently used to produce meat must increase due to the increase of meat consumption in first-world countries and the increase in population trends. The already unsustainable amount of land being used for meat production must increase which will result in more of the Earth’s viable land being used for meat production. Currently, 25% of land that is used for food production is degraded “due to such things as topsoil loss, microbial diminishment, and nutrient depletion.”[11] The percentage of land that is currently being used for crops and livestock production will soon be no longer viable for farming and meat factories. This will leave the human population without viable land and not a supportable amount of food.

The loss of viable land is a direct result of meat production. About 56 million acres in the United States alone are used to feed livestock. Conversely, only 4 million acres are used to grow crops for humans to consume (PETA).[12] Crops currently used to feed livestock are diminishing available crops for the human population. In fact, vegetarians use 20 times less land than the average meat-consumer, proving that vegetarians live a more Earth-friendly and eco-sustainable lifestyle.[13] A diet that includes meat wastes land resources now and assists the destruction of viable topsoil for future generations by overusing our current land resources.

The Earth’s water resources are also becoming more and more diminished each year due to agriculture production. In the United States, 80% of freshwater is used for agriculture while 70% of freshwater is used for agriculture worldwide.[14] Due to the high demand for meat production, crucial freshwater sources, such as North America’s Ogalla Aquifier, are being depleted at such high rates that they cannot be replenished.[15] It is not possible for the Earth to sustain 7 billion people’s eating habits without using an excessive amount of water and land, however, livestock’s overuse of this water supply limit the amount of water, 30% worldwide, that is left for humans to use. Livestock needs water and consumes crops that require water. Decreasing livestock consumption decreases the percentage of water that is not consumed directly by humans. The 786 million people on this planet that lack access to safe drinking water would benefit from a decrease in the amount of freshwater used for meat production because more water would be available for direct human consumption.[16]

The massive quantities of animal waste are polluting and seeping into lakes, rivers, and oceans. This, often toxic, manure kills wildlife and pollutes not only the water, but also the air. For example, a typical pig factory produces “7.2 million pounds of manure annually” and a typical cattle feedlot will produce 344 million pounds of manure annually.[17] Manure from livestock created each year is about 130 times more that of humans. A conservative estimate by the Environmental Protective Agency indicated that livestock excrement has polluted 35,000 miles of rivers in twenty-two states.[18] Pollution and water depletion are shrinking viable resources of water for future generations’ agricultural production. This pollution also directly affects the amount of water that is drinkable for the current population. With such a high population of humans without safe drinking water, it is a moral requirement to help those individuals by making water more readily available. A collective adoption of vegetarianism would not only save animal lives but would save human lives through water preservation.

The massive quantity of waste does not only pollute the water through runoff and septic rivers and lakes but also, it affects the air immensely. Manure releases high quantities of gasses into the atmosphere, which affects global warming and air toxicity. Typical factory farms for pigs found that manure contains ammonia, methane, phosphorous, cyanide, nitrates and carbon monoxide.[19] Gasses like phosphorous and nitrogen are partly responsible for greenhouse gas emissions. Agriculture is responsible for 24% of all greenhouse gas emissions which, along with deforestation for agriculture, makes agriculture the number one contributor to greenhouse gasses.[20] The immense amount of greenhouse gasses produced from agriculture is a direct cause of biodiversity loss and the pollution of air and water. Adopting a “non-meat diet would significantly reduce the ecological impacts of our diet” because the detrimental environmental impacts of agriculture would be greatly reduced.[21] Humans are morally responsible for these impacts thus it is imperative that humans collectively adopt the vegetarian diet.

Those who eat meat but understand the ecological effect of their diet may argue that the “organic” and “locally” raised meat products remedy their meat diet instead of supporting a collective human adoption of vegetarianism. Although the health benefits of eating organically may prove significant, “organic” and “local” meat products do not eliminate the effects of the meat industry on our planet. In fact, “local” meat may even prove to be worse for the environment than it is perceived to be. Currently, the United States only has 0.7% of its cropland certified as organic.[22] According to the Federal Drug Administration (FDA), they do not have a definition for the term “organic” on food labels and is not defined by law or regulations that the FDA enforces. However, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) defines specific organic standards and has regulations in place for organic labeling. Standards include not administering medications in the absence of illness and not using synthetic internal parasiticides on a regular basis.[23] Therefore, organic meat production results in less toxic manure entering our water.

Although these regulations prevent animals ingesting bacteria and pesticides that result in toxic manure, the same amount of manure is being produced. Thus, an immense amount of methane, phosphorous, and nitrous oxide are still being produced and are entering the atmosphere. Greenhouse gasses are still being generated and negatively impact the Earth’s atmosphere, biodiversity, and water resources. Also, regulations are not very severe for misusing the organic label. According to the USDA, any person who sells or labels their products as organic knowingly “shall be subject to a civil penalty of not more than $10,000.”[24] Minor regulations that are not strict can result in misuse of the organic label on foods that use pesticides and antibiotics.[25] Without severe penalties and ability to misuse the organic label, industrial agriculture can use pesticides and unethical farming practices unbeknownst to consumers.

Locally raised meat products are another alternative that is proposed as a way to help the environment’s current condition while retaining meat consumption. However, locally grown food is not as ecologically friendly as it is friendly to local economies. According to the USDA, there is no generally accepted definition of “local” food. However, the total distance a product may travel and still be considered as locally produced is less than 400 miles from its origin or within the state in which it was produced. The average American meal travels approximately 1,500 miles from farm to plate.[26] Meat products are able to travel a maximum of six hours on a truck and still be considered local, although they can be worse for the environment. Smaller transportation vehicles carrying smaller amounts of meat produces more pollution by vehicles. Just as riding the local bus with many individuals is better for the environment than driving your own vehicle by yourself, food that travels in large quantities by train can have a smaller carbon footprint than food transported in smaller quantities by truck over a shorter distance.[27] Therefore, the local food consumer may be harming the environment even though local economies may prosper.

Locally produced food does not mean that the food is produced without pesticides or maltreatment of the animals. In fact, local farms tend to be small or medium-sized farms that lack clear rules that mean, “growers must determine which regulations apply to their situation and who is responsible for developing and enforcing regulations.”[28] These uncertainties are also related to food safety, processing, on-farm production, and post handling practices. These vague regulations make it possible for farms to cut corners by cutting costs and using non-ecological practices by using pesticides and antibiotics. Also, with the current practices of United States consumers, it is nearly impossible for an individual to only ingest locally grown and pesticide-free meat products. Almost 99% of all farm animals in the United States are produced in factory farms, which indicates that locally grown farms hardly make a difference.[29] Almost all meat consumers will purchase and consume meat originating on factory farms and thus it is unethical to consume meat because of the “overconsumption of natural resources” “methane and nitrous oxide, two examples of greenhouse gasses,” and “manure, which contaminates water when poorly managed.”[30] Locally produced and organically produced meat will not reverse these effects but vegetarianism on a global scale can reduce both pollution and depletion of natural resources.

Supporters of a meat diet may also argue that the poor and the starving do not have the option to adopt a vegetarian diet. Others may argue that meat feeds the hungry and that meat offers needed calories and sustenance. In reality, if the vegetarian diet were more adopted worldwide, there would be more energy traveling from food to humans. Animal agriculture, although it uses such massive quantities of natural resources, is very inefficient. Herbivorous animals “convert only about 10% of the plant matter they metabolize into their own body parts”.[31] This means that only one-tenth of the energy animal consumption intended crops produced go to an animal’s body parts. Furthermore, only parts of certain animals are commonly consumed, further limiting the energy transferred to humans. If the land used for livestock were made to produce crops, more energy would enter the food system. This would result in shrinking amounts of exploited natural resources and increasing amounts of energy available for human consumption.

Agriculture uses approximately “756 million tons of grain and corn per year” to produce meat products.[32] This staggering amount of grain and corn that could be used to feed the starving human populations does not include the 255 million tons of soy crops that are fed to farmed animals.[33] Soy is a great source of protein that could be used to sustain humans but yet hundreds of millions of tons are being fed to livestock. The caloric benefits of animals are also misunderstood to be more sustainable for the human population. In reality, the inefficiency of a diet containing animal products is beyond staggering. Every “ten calories fed to cattle results in only one calorie consumed by people,” which means 90% of calories are lost in this process (food ethics, 88). This also means that ten times more crop agriculture, land, and water is required to be used to get the same amount of calories from beef than if the calories from crops were consumed directly. This is excluding the amount of water and land cattle uses to drink and graze. A collective adoption of vegetarianism is not elitist because it would result in more food energy, calories, and protein being available for the starving human populations. If the amount of grain used to produce agriculture was exported to the rest of the developing world where there are poor and hungry human populations, humans could also “export these food systems and their environmental consequences.”[34] Therefore vegetarianism on a global scale not only is an ethical obligation to the environment but and ethical obligation to the human population.

The moral obligation that humans have to future human generations, and thus to the environment, are irrefutable. The current state of the environment prompts the human population to change consumption practices so that future natural resources will be viable to help sustain generations to come. The collective adoption of vegetarianism is an ethical imperative that will result in alleviating the devastation that is currently spoiling our environment. Not only will the adoption of vegetarianism improve the environment, it also has the capability to feed starving populations of humans in current years. Natural resource depletion and pollution have the ability destroy human life by removing all viable food manufacturing resources. Therefore, a collective adoption of vegetarianism by the human population is necessary.

Footnotes:

[1] George, Kathryn Paxton. Animal, Vegetable, or Woman?: A Feminist Critique of Ethical Vegetarianism. (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2000), 2.

A Response to “Eating our Friends” by Roger Scruton

As a food-educated vegan, I disagree with this article on many points, excluding that Western cultures need to make a change in the way they eat. Before I dive into my opinion, here are some guidelines to my points:

Individuals who live in third world countries often cannot afford to be vegan/vegetarian. These individuals eat for need, not for pleasure. Therefore they are obviously excluded.

However, for those who eat for pleasure, not for need, this article is for you.

“About 610,000 people die of heart disease in the United States every year–that’s 1 in every 4 deaths.” Source

Why? Apart from family history and medical conditions, diet is the main causer of heart disease. (moo)

“About 260 million acres of U.S. forest have been cleared to create cropland to produce feed for animals raised for food. The meat industry is directly responsible for 85 percent of all soil erosion in the U.S.” Source

Daily dose of facts:

“…the 1984 famine in Ethiopia didn’t happen because local agriculture didn’t produce food but because this food was exported to Europe to be fed to ‘farm animals’. It was during this famine – which cost tens of thousands of people their lives – that European countries even imported grain from Ethiopia to feed chickens, pigs and cows. Had the grain been used to feed the Ethiopian people, there wouldn’t have been a famine after all. In Guatemala, about 75 per cent of children under the age of 5 are malnourished. But still, more than 17,000 tons of meat are produced every year to be exported to the US.” Source

So what’s this article about?

In few words, this article focuses on highlighting the morality behind ethical farming and the human-animal relationship. He urges people to eat meals with each other instead of eating fast-food. He states that, “the lifestyle associated with the Sunday roast involves sacrifices that those brought up on fast food are unused to making — mealtimes, manners, dinner-table conversation, and the art of cookery itself” (Scruton). This, obviously, is true. With phones and busy lifestyles, some families never find the time to eat together. However, why can’t an awesome meal with family involve healthier vegan options? And how could the human-animal relationship be improved even further?

So what do I think?

Specifically, I take issue with this statement: “When animals raised for their meat are properly looked after, when all duties of care are fulfilled, and when the demands of sympathy and piety are respected, the practice cannot be criticized except from a premise — the premise of animal rights — which I believe to be incoherent” (Scruton). The fact is, animals can take care of themselves.

Stating that they benefit from us is like saying we helped the Native Americans. Native Americans had their own lifestyle and it worked for them. Westerners infiltrated their lands, killed them, and took them off their land and put them somewhere else. We did not make their lives better by educating them or giving them new religion, they were already self-sustaining. This relates to our current situation regarding livestock. If meat-eaters want to defend the raising of livestock with nutritional facts, that is different from proclaiming that humans make animals live better and longer. In reality, milk cows live, on average, 20 years in the wild and 4-5 years in captivity. So how does this promote animal rights?

The article also states that there are “ecological benefits of small-scale live-stock farming.” Although this is true, vegetarianism and veganism is even better for the environment. The fact is that of all raw materials and fossil fuels used in the U.S., more than one-third are devoted to raising animals for food.

I do, for obvious cognitive reasons, agree that we are at the top of the food chain. However, I disagree completely that we need meat to sustain life. We do not, in the modern world, need to eat meat. So we definitely do not need to eat it every day. Those who eat meat in the Western world, who are economically sound, eat for pleasure, not for sustenance and nutrition. If we ate for nutrition and ecological reasons, we would all be vegan. The fact is, meat is unnecessary and have come to the point in technological advancement that scientists understand the nutrients that humans need, and most, almost all, can come from plants.

Regarding a sit-down Sunday dinner, why can’t that dinner contain delicious roasted vegetables, pasta with red sauce, and dairy-free desserts (my favorite). We can become the type of society that reverts back to eating as a family without eating the foods we have always eaten. Let’s eat like a family while eating the right way: for the environment and for animal rights!

So what should I do about this?

THINK:

Try to think about how you eat and how the world works. Organize your thoughts before you make any lifestyle changes. Can I afford to be vegan/vegetarian? Can I limit my meat intake each week to reduce my carbon footprint? Can I benefit from lowering my heart-disease related health risks?

Think about how you justify the way you eat and analyze if your reasonings are sound. If your diet relies on bacon and cheese, chances are you are doing something wrong. If you are the type to buy local and organic animal-products, think about how you can reduce your carbon footprint even more by limiting your intake of meat.

STAND UP:

Do you care about the environment and your personal health but are a closet burger-eater?It’s okay, no one’s perfect! However, it wouldn’t hurt to practice what you preach and emphasize your own values in your daily life. Start by making small goals to cut out meat, even dairy products. Replace those meals with vegetables and legumes.

Are you an advocate for animal rights? Join an animal rights community either online, on your college campus, or in your community. Ask how you can make a difference by standing up.